Brian Man
by Baz The Storyteller
Summary: Mel's life is over when she is accused of bullying an autistic boy. Meanwhile, Brian and Sophie pretend to have learning difficulties so that they can have a carer to do everything for them.


BRIANMAN

One evening, the Johnsons and Barkers had the brand new social worker, Mr Timms over to check how things were going on with the Barkers and their foster parents. Mr Timms had never met the Johnsons before, but was told how eccentric they were.

The evening went on very well, despite the usual Johnson's weirdness (they offered Mr Timms a cup of blendered cake and plate of coffee beans to chew on, let's just say he didn't finish it), Mr Timms saw nothing wrong at all.

He said goodbye to the Johnsons and made his way to the door. But he asked Lucy if he could have a word with her.

"Lucy?" asked Mr Timms. "Brian and Sophie, do they have Asperger's?"

"Yes," lied Lucy with a smile.

"I thought so," said Mr Timms. "I have a brother with the same condition. Till the next time, bye bye."

Lucy opened the door for him and he left.

Brian and Sophie overheard what he just said.

"What is Asperger's?" asked Sophie.

As always, she got out the Galactic guidebook and typed it in. The hologram appeared.

"Here we are. Asperger's Syndrome is a mild form of Autism where one lacks social skills. People diagnosed with mild Asperger's can live a normal lifestyle such as having a relationship and a career and other people with the more serious condition would need a carer."

"What's a carer?" asked Brian.

"It's when people with a disability needs someone to take care of them," answered Lucy. "To help cook and clean for them."

"Oh…. I see," said Brian. And of course the cogwheels in his head started to turn. He began to have a crafty idea.

The next day at school, Mel was with Trent by the lockers. As always, she moaned and complained about how her life is horrible as usual.

Just then, a boy called Desmond brushed past her to get to his locker that was right next to Mel's. She was not amused.

"Hey, freak, watch where you're going!"

But Desmond didn't answer back. He just opened up his locker and acted like Mel wasn't there.

"Hello, moron! I'm talking to you," snarled Mel.

"Mel, I think he…." began Trent.

"Shut up," interrupted Mel. "Come on, let's go somewhere else, not let this caveman bother us."

She took Trent with her as she stormed away angrily. Nothing new with her.

That evening Lucy arrived home in the kitchen as she noticed that there was a 30 something year old woman who was cooking the dinner.

"Er, hello," greeted Lucy.

"Hello", greeted back the woman. "You must be Lucy. I'm your parents' carer, Miss Warner."

Oh no, thought Lucy as she went into the sitting room, only to find Brian and Sophie lying on the sofa watching TV.

"Is that dinner nearly ready yet, I'm starving!" boasted Brian.

"Yeah, hurry up!" boasted Sophie.

"It'll be ready in 10 minutes, be patient," called back Miss Warner.

"But I want it now!" cried Brian.

"What are you doing?" Lucy asked Brian and Sophie.

"Having a carer is great," answered Brian. "We don't have to cook or clean anymore, we can have someone else do it for us."

"Brian," said Lucy, disgusted. "You don't need a carer."

"Yes, we do," corrected Sophie. "We have Asperger's."

"No you don't," corrected back Lucy. "I only said you had just it to cover up who you really are. And not all autistics need carers. Some can cook and clean for themselves."

"Huh! They're missing out a great opportunity," said Brian. "Miss Warner, change the channel!"

"I'm busy!" called Miss Warner.

"Lazy sod," said Sophie.

The next day Lucy was in the corridor heading towards her locker, until she saw Josh at yet another one of his scams.

He was standing in front of a big poster that said "Aspy Awareness" with big pictures of Brian and Sophie on it.

"Please send a donation for Aspy Awareness, £5. Thank you."

The poor suckers were giving Josh a fiver as they went by. The disgusted Lucy stormed over to him.

"What are you doing?" asked Lucy. "This is cruel."

"No it's not," said Josh. "I'm charging people £5, not £10. What kind of monster do you think I am?"

"And it is spelt 'A, S, P, _I, E_ ' not Y," said Lucy as she stormed off.

That lunchtime in the canteen, grumpy as always Mel got her lunch on the tray and made her way over to her usual table. That was until Desmond, without looking, bumped into her. All of the food went over Mel's jumper. She looked at Desmond, disgusted and angrily.

"You stupid freak!" she barked. "Now look what you've done."

Desmond just stood there and said nothing. This made Mel even more angry.

"Hello, are you deaf? I'm talking to you, you big stupid moron!"

She then began to push Desmond on the chest really hard. This caught everyone's attention as they all looked at Mel pushing Desmond.

"You big fat Neanderthal!" she barked pushing him again.

He staggered backward. He was beginning to look upset.

"Mel, that boy…." began Trent.

"Trent, shut up!" snarled Mel again as she pushed Desmond again.

"You want to say something to me, freak? Huh?"

Desmond looked really upset.

"Yeah, you're that stupid to do anything, you… you….. retard!"

Everyone gasped.

"MEL BARKER!"

It was the Headmaster.

"You come with me right now."

In the Headmaster's office, he was very angry at Mel.

"I am shocked of what I just saw," he said. "I can't believe you would bully someone."

"I wasn't bullying him," protested Mel. "That big fat idiot bumped into me and didn't say sorry! It was his fault, big lummox."

"Stop it!" cried the Headmaster. "Could you not see that boy had a problem?"

"Yeah, he had no brain," said Mel.

The Headmaster looked at her.

"That boy was autistic."

Mel's heart sank.

"What?" she asked.

"He has autism, he's from the Special Needs class," answered the Headmaster.

Mel felt horrible.

"I just… I didn't…. why didn't anyone tell me?" asked Mel trying to the blame on someone else.

"You have no-one to blame but yourself," said the Headmaster. "You have two weeks detention."

Mel left the office. She felt sick. She couldn't believe what she had done.

"What were you thinking?" Lucy asked Mel as they entered the kitchen of their own home.

"I didn't know he was autistic!" protested Mel.

"And the whole school thinks that you hate people with disabilities," said Lucy.

They noticed that Miss Warner was sitting at the table crying with her head in her hands.

"Miss Warner?" asked Lucy.

"I just can't take it," cried Miss Warner. "Brian and Sophie are too much to handle. I got no sleep last night because Brian and Sophie kept pestering to give them glasses of water, then fudge cake, then to take them to the toilet… at the same time, I can't do it anymore. I've dealt with many autistics, but they're just so impossible!"

"Miss Warner, plump my coushin, you lazy sod," called Brian from the sitting room.

"And paint my toenails, you pathetic waste of space," said Sophie.

Lucy and Mel went into the sitting room only to find that Brian and Sophie were not only on the sofa, but were very overweight.

"What the?" asked Mel.

"We overdid it with the fudgecake!" said Sophie.

"It's was her fault," said Brian. "A carer indeed! She's rubbish!"

"Brian, this has gone too far!" shouted Mel. "You need to stop pretending that you have Asperger's."

"Oh that's funny coming from a girl who called an Autistic boy a retard today!" said Brian.

"I didn't mean it," said Mel. "And unlike you, that boy _is_ actually autistic. You both are just pretending to be."

"Pretending to be?" asked Miss Warner as she entered the room.

"Yes, Brian and Sophie are just too lazy to do anything," said Lucy. "So they decided to get a carer to do everything for them."

"Is that true?" asked Miss Warner.

Brian and Sophie felt guilty.

"Well… I never….." said Miss Warner. "And after all the things you put me through. You two are disgraceful. Pretending to be autistic just because you can't be bothered to lift a finger."

Brian slightly moved one of his fingers to show Miss Warner that he was innocent, but he wasn't fooling her.

"Don't worry," said Lucy. "I know how to make it up to you."

"How?" asked Miss Warner.

Just then, Josh can home with envelope of £100. Miss Warner couldn't believe that he was scamming people all along, after this morning, he told her that he was collecting for good cause.

"So, Aspie Awareness indeed!" she said.

"Give her the money, Josh," said Mel.

"Okay, how about this," suggested Josh. "50%..."

"All of it!" barked Lucy and Mel.

Josh had no choice but to give the envelope to Miss Warner.

"Thank you," she said as she took it off Josh. "And as for you Mr and Mrs Johnson. You should be ashamed of yourselves!"

She then walked out the house in a huff.

"I hope you both learnt your lesson," Lucy said to Brian and Sophie.

"Yeah, carers cost a lot of money," said Brian.

Lucy and Mel just tutted in disgust.

The next day at school, Mel was given cold hateful stares as she walked down the corridor. She didn't like all the hate. Not one bit. She walked over to Trent who give her a sympathetic smile, but on the inside, not so much.

"Well, I did try to tell you, but you didn't let me finish," said Trent.

"Trent, I don't hate Autistic people," said Mel. "I just have a temper and I lost it."

She sighed. She could hear people muttering about her. She felt scared. Very scared.

Lucy was with Wendy at the lockers. Everyone was also giving Lucy cold stares. Just then, 3 girls walked up to her.

"I hear your family dislikes people with disabilities," one of them said. "First your dad pretends to be disabled in a wheelchair and now he pretended to be Autistic."

"He's my foster dad," said Lucy.

"And now your sister is a bigot towards Autistic people," said the second girl.

"Mel is rude towards everyone," said Lucy. "She's even rude to my family. But she is only rude because she is angry and frustrated."

"Why?" asked the third girl.

Lucy felt like she had no choice but to tell them.

"Mel is going to hate for this, but here goes. Mel is angry because…."

She whispered the reason out to the girls. Their eyes widened as they understood.

"I see," said the first girl. "We might be the same if it were us."

"Lucy, maybe if Mel made an announcement to the whole school in assembly, this whole thing would blow over," suggested Wendy.

"Yeah," said Lucy with agreement. "But it'll be tough trying to get Mel to do that. It'll be like trying to open a lock without a key."

All day long, Mel got looks of hate and anger from everyone. She kept looking at Trent, hoping that he would give an "Everything is going to be okay" speech. But alas.

That evening, Mel had dinner at home. She couldn't go into the diner due to the amount of hate she got from the students.

She sat there with her plate of Sophie's baked bean and sardine pie. She just stared at it in despair. Her life was over.

The rest of the family was at the table, they looked at her with sympathy. Even Brian the idiot felt sorry.

"Mel, I have an idea of how to make it all blow over," began Lucy.

"Yeah?" asked Mel.

"How about you make an announcement to the whole school at assembly that you don't hate disabled people and why you are so angry," continued Lucy.

Mel looked at her for a few seconds.

"No, I can't do that," she said. "Look, in a week, this whole situation will all be over."

But it wasn't.

The whole week, Mel got more hateful looks from students. People wouldn't even sit near her in classes and in the canteen.

She never felt more alone.

I _am_ a monster, she thought to herself.

Then that weekend, a terrible thing happened.

Mel got a letter from the post. It was from an anonymous sender. Mel opened it and pulled out a letter. It had a message on it.

She read it.

And then ran upstairs in tears.

Lucy wanted to know what the fuss was about.

She picked it up and read it.

She couldn't believe it.

It was a death threat.

Lucy went up to her and Mel's bedroom. Mel was on the bed crying.

Lucy got on the bed and gave Mel a hug.

Then Brian, Sophie and Josh entered the room. They all had read the letter.

"Why is Mel crying over a piece of paper?" asked Brian.

"She got a death threat," answered Lucy.

"What's a death threat?" asked Sophie.

"It's when someone sent you a letter threatening to kill you," answered Josh. "Someone at school sent it."

Mel then decided what she must do.

"Okay, I'll make an announcement to assembly," she sobbed. "And I want to apologize to that Autistic boy."

Brian, Sophie and Josh all sat on the bed and they, along with Lucy, gave Mel a big hug. She really needed that, even though we all know how much she wanted to distance herself from society.

The following Monday, Mrs Hardman was on stage at assembly. The whole school, including Desmond and his parents were there too.

"Now, over a week ago, our very own Mel Barker did something terrible. And today, she is going to not only apologize, but also explain why she has a problem controlling her anger. Miss Barker."

Mel came onto the stage and walked over to the microphone.

"Desmond Titterington, I'm sorry for what I did to you. I didn't mean to call you those things. I have a temper because…."

Lucy and Josh leaned forward with anticipation.

"Because….."

Then Trent, Frankie, Pete and Wendy.

This was really difficult for Mel.

She didn't want to do it, but she had to.

Tears formed in her eyes and her bottom lip quivered.

"Because…"

The whole school leaned forward.

Mel took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Because I am an orphan."

There was a huge pause.

Mel's heart was pounding.

Then someone clapped.

And then someone else.

Then a few more people.

Then more.

And then the whole assembly.

Mel opened her tear filled eyes and saw that the whole school was in applause.

Lucy was in tears. She was so proud of her sister.

So was Josh, despite his reputation.

Even Desmond and his parents were clapping.

Mel felt like the weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

And for the first time in her life, she actually smiled.

"She has such a beautiful smile," sobbed the always dramatic Frankie.

After assembly, Mel felt shakey. She was with Trent at the lockers. Desmond and his parents walked over to to her.

"Mel?" asked the father.

"Yeah?" asked Mel.

"I'm proud of what you did," he said. "Many people aren't that kind to those with disabilities and don't apologize for what they did. But you understood what you did wrong and felt sorry."

"I felt like a monster," said Mel. "I had a rough week and I had to erase my mistakes."

"And admitting your problem was not easy," said Desmond's mother. "I am on the Autistic spectrum myself and didn't want people to know. Trying to tell people wasn't easy. But you admitted your problem today and that was hard to do. I'm very proud of you."

"Mel, Desmond would like to award you with a picture of he will draw of you next week," said the father. "Des loves drawing. He's amazing. His drawings are like you would see in a Marvel comic book."

"Really?" asked Trent.

"Yeah," said the father. "A lot of people who aren't socially active or autistic are actually very creative. You'll be amazed of what ideas they can come up with."

"Well, we best be off," said the mother. "See you around, Mel."

"Bye, Desmond," said Mel.

But Desmond didn't notice Mel and said nothing. His parents laughed.

"I'll say bye for him, bye Mel," said his mother.

So from that day forth, Mel got no more dirty looks and death threats. She felt better now. Much better.

As she got home that afternoon, Sophie and Brian were in the kitchen ready to give her the biggest "Congratulations" hug of all time. Mel allowed them and they hugged her like mad.

It went on for 15 minutes.

"Brian, Sophie, I really need the toilet," said Mel.

The next week, Mel got a picture of herself from Desmond. It was a picture of her hanging out by the lockers. It looked amazing. Just like in a Marvel comic book.

Mel framed it on the wall of her room.

Josh looked at it. The cogwheels in his brain started to turn.

"I should probably team up with Desmond start up our own…."

"NO!" barked Mel and Lucy.

"And give the money to charity…" lied Josh.

"JOSH!" cried Mel and Lucy.

"If you even dare go near Desmond, I'll…" began Mel.

"Okay, fine," said Josh walking out.

THE END


End file.
